El Salvador - Useful information for your trip

El Salvador is a country in Central America, its capital city is San Salvador. It is washed south and west by the waters of the Pacific Ocean. It's the most highly populated country in the area, in spite of being smaller than the others.

The land is almost entirely mountainous, with a plateau and two volcanic mountain chains. Few and limited plains are situated near the coasts and are covered by forests. In the mountains the climate is mostly temperate, but as latitude decreases temperatures get higher and the air becomes wetter.

The country is divided into two by the river Lempa, originating in Guatemala, which separates the two mountain chains, traces the border with Honduras and finally flows into the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador is also punctuated with small volcanic lakes which formed themselves inside ancient craters. 

The original fauna in El Salvador has considerably reduced over the past few decades, but it still includes over a thousand species of butterflies, over 500 species of birds, 200 species of mammals and over 800 species of fish. In the remainig forests, you can still find mahogany trees, ebony trees, cedar trees, palms, balm trees and amate, a tall tree that can grow even higher than 30 meters.

As for the economy, until the late Thirties the country relied almost exclusively on coffee monoculture. After the civil war, which compromised the economic apparatus, nowadays agriculture and commerce prevail, especially thanks to coffee, cotton and sugar plantations. In general, El Salvador is richer and more developed if compared to other countries in the same area, but crime, illiteracy and child mortality rates still remain high.

Among the destinations tourists appreciate the most in El Salvador, you can find El boqueròn National park, situated on top of a volcano in San Salvador, Coatepeque lake, which formed itself inside a crater, lake Ilopango, the largest in the country, Tazumal, an archaeological site built by the Maya civilization about 60 kilometres away from the capital city and the spectacular cathedral of Santa Ana.